tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6512050174377678428.post2225449266549721146..comments2024-03-26T09:32:26.565-05:00Comments on Sherlock Peoria: About Sixty . . . Battling into the night and a hard morning after.Sherlock Peoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09896656391037436805noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6512050174377678428.post-14699071347477762312016-11-07T14:25:33.982-06:002016-11-07T14:25:33.982-06:00Ah, ok, I apoligize if I seemed impatient. Still, ...Ah, ok, I apoligize if I seemed impatient. Still, I'm a little puzzled by the fact that in 2016 it is so hard to trace the production history of FINA, despite the fact that it is one one of the most famous stories of one of the most famous (and studied) fictional characters ever. I'll keep reading your blog.<br /><br />(Incidently, I guess I should proofread better: the "thought" at the end of the previous message should have been deleted, and in the message before I wrote Tid-Bits instead of Tit-Bits).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6512050174377678428.post-27601264064968786512016-11-07T12:21:15.932-06:002016-11-07T12:21:15.932-06:00It's not a very simple question, really, and o...It's not a very simple question, really, and one even an expert would take some time to dig into. Speaking for myself, I'm struggling just to find time to make it through this blog series just now, and figured on coming back to it in a week or two when life settled down. I only know a scant few Sherlockians who could give you a reply off the top of their heads, and am never sure when or if they check in on these pages (or if they even hit the comments).Sherlock Peoriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09896656391037436805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6512050174377678428.post-43688763063232390212016-11-07T11:52:23.161-06:002016-11-07T11:52:23.161-06:00Uh? Was my question too difficult, too uninteresti...Uh? Was my question too difficult, too uninteresting, or is this the wrong place to ask off-topic questions? I'm glad my comment passed moderation since it means it was read, but I thought the blog's author and most of its readers were Sherlock Holmes experts who could give me their opinion on this matter. Maybe I should wait more than one day for these kind of questions?<br />thoughtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6512050174377678428.post-3519030563387130802016-11-06T12:07:33.634-06:002016-11-06T12:07:33.634-06:00Hi, sorry for the off-topic, but I was looking for...Hi, sorry for the off-topic, but I was looking for a place on the web to ask a few questions to Sherlock Holmes experts.<br /><br />My first question is: what do we know about the production of "The Final Problem"? There are many bits of info on the web but they often seem to contradict each other. For example, when was the story plotted? We have at least two sources (Doyle's interview to Tid-Bits on 15 december 1900 and his autobiography) where he says he decided how to kill Holmes when he visited Switzerland and Reichenback Falls; he doesn't give a date, but according to Richard Lancelyn Green's "Uncollected Sherlock Holmes" (1983), the visit happened in August 1893. On the other hand, as early as 6 April 1983 Doyle wrote to his mother "I am in the middle of the last Holmes story, after which the gentleman vanishes, never never to reappear. I am weary of his name". If the writing of a SH short stoy usually took him about a week, how could he be in the middle of it on April 6 and yet have not decided to use Switzerland and the Reichenbach Falls until August? Did he rewrite the story? Or did he pause it for three month before writing the second half? This would explain why Switzerland is mentioned only in the second half (except for the earlier mention of Journal de Geneve. Do we have manuscript evidence to prove or disprove that mention was added later?) Another mystery is if the Memoirs were always meant to have 12 stories or not: we know Doyle wrote to his mother "Under pressure I offered to do a dozen for a thousand pounds" and the publisher accepted it, but Green in his introduction to the Return wrote that "The second series at first consisted of eleven stories, and the last, 'The Final Problem', was an afterthought which McClure retained for use in his own magazine (which he started in June 1893)". How confusing. Also, when Doyle has Watson writing in FINA that he intended the series to end with NAVA, I wonder if this can be taken as an inside joke between Doyle and his publishers, just like the similar claim in SECO (that he wanted ABBE to end the series) is in my opinion an inside joke because Doyle briefly figured ABBE would be his las SH story.<br /><br />Thanks for your attention.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com